2001-2005

Her Fame Also Rises

Eli Winkelman’s Challah for Hunger story is gaining fame around the world. As an undergraduate, the ’07 grad led other students in baking bread at Scripps for Darfur relief. Now, in former President Bill Clinton’s recent book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, he describes how Winkleman’s program is making a difference “one loaf at a time.” Clinton writes, “I find this particularly touching and relevant because it was started by a Jewish student, is funded by the sales of traditional Jewish bread, for the benefit of poor Muslims whose plight has been ignored for too long by Muslim nations much closer to them.”

In October 2007, Clinton also praised Winkelman’s efforts on MTV at the Clinton Global Initiative Forum. When a young woman in the audience asked how she might make a difference, Clinton gave Eli as an example. In addition, MTV showed a photo of Winkleman and the homepage of the Scripps College website.

While promoting his book, Clinton has appeared at several speaking engagements across the nation, including a group at Hearst Magazines in New York last December. Ellen Payne ’81, director of editorial operations at Hearst Magazines, reports that Clinton again mentioned Winkelman and the efforts being made by Challah for Hunger. “It made my day to have my West Coast alma mater called out to my East Coast colleagues,” she enthuses. “What a wonderful example of the type of young women Scripps College attracts and educates. As he does his book tour, I am sure he repeats her story, and the good that is Scripps is shared with an even greater audience.”

Challah for Hunger is active at The Claremont Colleges, and new chapters have opened at the University of Texas at Austin, University of Rochester, NYU, and Smith College. With weekly challah sales, money and awareness is raised for victims of the genocide in the Sudan; more that $20,000 has been sent to relief organizations to date. For more information about Challah for Hunger, visit their site at www. challahforhunger.org.